Cyprus votes to remain divided

Page Tools

As it joins the European Union, this troubled island remains as deeply split as ever.

Given the daily bloodshed and the perilous situation in places like Iraq and the Gaza Strip, the collapse of an attempt to forge a lasting peace in Cyprus has received scant attention.

It is almost 30 years since Turkey invaded northern Cyprus in response to a Greek-sponsored coup on the Mediterranean island decolonised by the British less than 15 years earlier. Cyprus has remained partitioned ever since.

Twice the partition has come close to provoking outright war between Greece and Turkey, most recently in 1996.

About 715,000 people live in the Greek Cypriot south, occupying about two-thirds of the island. Around 200,000 live in the Turkish Cypriot north, also known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

A United Nations peacekeeping force had been on the island for a decade before the invasion and remains there today. Australia is one of four countries that contribute civilian police to the peace effort.

There had been some signs of a resolution to the bitter division as Cyprus moved, along with nine other countries, to join the European Union.

AdvertisementAdvertisement

That process led to negotiations between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders brokered by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Under a plan submitted to Mr Annan last month, if the proposed reunification was rejected by either side, only the Greek Cypriot part of the island could join the EU on May 1.

Despite the changing global politik in which many countries have become unlikely allies against the common enemies of terrorism, older enmities continue to divide Cyprus.

While Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favour of reunification, Greek Cypriots flatly rejected it at the weekend. They had nothing to lose.

Whatever happened, the Greek-dominated south was going into the EU. The no vote was not an outcome that the rest of the world hoped for; it was a self-serving one.

The isolation of the north poses serious challenges for Europe. It leaves a rump of Cypriots economically cut adrift. It effectively makes the "green zone" between north and south policed by the UN an external border of the EU.

That will likely mean that it is again sealed, tightening the flow of people and goods that has been encouraged in recent months.

But the more significant concern is its impact on the prospect of Turkey itself joining the EU in the near future. Turkey applied for membership in 1999.

Despite sweeping reforms, such as the abolition of the death penalty and other efforts to improve its human rights record record, Turkey has met mostly resistance from European nations that see the secular, democratic but undeniably Muslim nation as too "different".

Yet Turkey remains crucial to the fight against terrorism and remains a role model of a moderate, increasingly democratic Muslim state.

It is critical that the referendum result in Cyprus not make Turkey's entry into the EU a forlorn prospect.